St Paul's Day Lore

Today (Jan 25) is St. Paul's day, a festival of the Roman and English churches in commoration of St. Paul. This day is thought to be prophetic as to the weather of the year:

• "If St. Paul's day be fair and clear, It doth betide a happy year; If blustering winds do blow aloft. Then wars will trouble our realm full oft; And if it chance to snow or rain, Then will be dear all sorts of grain."


• In Germany when the day proved foul the common people used to drag the images of St. Paul and St. Urban in disgrace to duck them in the river.


• On the day of the conversion of St . Paul, (January 25th,) the four winds wrestle and the winner will blow most of the year. (Belgium.)
  
• If it rains on St. Paul's day there will be plenty of mushrooms. (Bohemia.)
  

Other omens and folklore for St Paul's day include the following:

• Fire will not burn a man born on St . Paul's day, but if a woman who was born on that day is burned, the wound will never heal. Interestingly, in Sicily, it doesn't matter what day you were born on - if you are a man fire will not burn you, but if you are a woman it will not only burn, it will eventually cause your death!

On a more positive note:

• If you set your hens to hatch on Paul's day, they will become good layers.
  

Found in: Encyclopedia of superstitions, folklore, and the occult